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December 21, 2007

Life at the end of the bench

Limbo is often the state of existence for an end-of-the-bencher kind of guy like Mavs guard J.J. Barea. Will he be active and put on the uniform tonight? Will he be inactive and be resigned to a sport coat?

Or, will he be assigned to the D-League team in Tulsa like teammate Moe Ager was last week. That's certainly not where he wants to be.

"Right now [he'll] keep practicing with the team because he's our third point guard and there are times in practice where we need him here, especially with us having two guys in the developmental league right now," coach Avery Johnson said, noting Ager and rookie Nick Fazekas.

"It's more beneficial for [J.J.] to be here now. That could change down the road."

Gulp. But such is life trying to make in the NBA. Barea really helped this team out earlier in the year through some injuries and other things. He even started four games early on, and came off the bench in a couple of games to provide a spark during that lackluster period the Mavs struggled through.

As for Fazekas and Ager, Johnson didn't have much to say about either one, other than to give them time, play some games and then the coaching staff will evaluate their progress.